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Explores the author's theorized evolutionary basis for self-deception, which he says is tied to group conflict, courtship, neurophysiology, and immunology, but can be negated by awareness of it and its results.
Perspectives on Self-Deception by Brian P. McLaughlin Pdf
Students of philosophy, psychology, sociology, and literature will welcome this collection of original essays on self-deception and related phenomena such as wishful thinking, bad faith, and false consciousness. The book has six sections, each exploring self-deception and related phenomena from a different perspective.
People believe what they want to believe. It is a striking-yet all too familiar-fact about human beings that our belief-forming processes can be so distorted by fears, desires, and prejudices that an otherwise sensible person may sincerely uphold a false claim about the world despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. When we describe someone as being "in denial," we mean that he or she is personally threatened by some set of facts and consequently fails to assess the situation properly according to the evidence, instead arguing and interpreting evidence in light of a pre-established conclusion. In a world polarized over politics, culture, race, and religion, it is evident that ideological commitments can influence one's perception of reality in socially destructive ways, especially when one perceives a threat to these commitments. When group interests, creeds, or dogmas are threatened by unwelcome factual information, biased thinking can become ideological denialism. This is a problem that affects everybody: Whereas denial can interfere with individual well-being, ideological denialism can stand in the way of urgent advancements in public policy. This book offers an accessible, historically and scientifically informed overview of our understanding of denial and denialism. Adrian Bardon introduces the reader to the latest developments in the interdisciplinary study of denial, and then investigates the role of human psychology and ideology in, respectively, science denial, economic policy, and religious belief.
We lie to ourselves every day: about how well we drive, how much we're enjoying ourselves - even how good looking we are. In this ground-breaking book, Robert Trivers examines not only how we self-deceive, but also why, taking fascinating examples from aviation disasters, con artists, sexual betrayals and conflicts within families. Revealing, provocative and witty, Deceit and Self-Deception is one of the most vital books written this century, and will make you rethink everything that you think you know. 'Original and important . . . remarkable, thick with ideas.' Financial Times 'One of the great thinkers in the history of Western thought.' Steven Pinker 'A swift tour of links between deception and evolutionary progress . . . fascinating.' Economist 'I devoured it from cover to cover . . . exhilarating.' Guardian 'A powerful book . . . essential for anyone who wants to try to counter their own unconscious biases.' Independent
Deceit, lying, and falsehoods lie at the very heart of our cultural heritage. Even the founding myth of the Judeo-Christian tradition, the story of Adam and Eve, revolves around a lie. We have been talking, writing and singing about deception ever since Eve told God, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." Our seemingly insatiable appetite for stories of deception spans the extremes of culture from King Lear to Little Red Riding Hood, retaining a grip on our imaginations despite endless repetition. These tales of deception are so enthralling because they speak to something fundamental in the human condition. The ever-present possibility of deceit is a crucial dimension of all human relationships, even the most central: our relationships with our very own selves. Now, for the first time, philosopher and evolutionary psychologist David Livingstone Smith elucidates the essential role that deception and self-deception have played in human--and animal--evolution and shows that the very structure of our minds has been shaped from our earliest beginnings by the need to deceive. Smith shows us that by examining the stories we tell, the falsehoods we weave, and the unconscious signals we send out, we can learn much about ourselves and how our minds work. Readers of Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker will find much to intrigue them in this fascinating book, which declares that our extraordinary ability to deceive others--and even our own selves--"lies" at the heart of our humanity.
Self-deception raises complex questions about the nature of belief and the structure of the human mind. In this book, Alfred Mele addresses four of the most critical of these questions: What is it to deceive oneself? How do we deceive ourselves? Why do we deceive ourselves? Is self-deception really possible? Drawing on cutting-edge empirical research on everyday reasoning and biases, Mele takes issue with commonplace attempts to equate the processes of self-deception with those of stereotypical interpersonal deception. Such attempts, he demonstrates, are fundamentally misguided, particularly in the assumption that self-deception is intentional. In their place, Mele proposes a compelling, empirically informed account of the motivational causes of biased beliefs. At the heart of this theory is an appreciation of how emotion and motivation may, without our knowing it, bias our assessment of evidence for beliefs. Highlighting motivation and emotion, Mele develops a pair of approaches for explaining the two forms of self-deception: the "straight" form, in which we believe what we want to be true, and the "twisted" form, in which we believe what we wish to be false. Underlying Mele's work is an abiding interest in understanding and explaining the behavior of real human beings. The result is a comprehensive, elegant, empirically grounded theory of everyday self-deception that should engage philosophers and social scientists alike.
Gerhard Self, the dour private detective, returns in this riveting crime novel about terrorism, governmental cover-up, and the treacherous waters where they mix. Leo Salger, the daughter of a powerful Bonn bureaucrat, is missing, and Self has been hired to find her. His investigation initially leads him to a psych ward at a local hospital, where he is made to believe that Leo fell from a window and died. Self soon discovers, however, that Leo is alive and well and that she was involved in a terrorist incident the government is feverishly trying to keep under wraps. The result is a wildly entertaining, superbly nuanced thriller that follows one detective’s desire to uncover the truth, wherever it may lead.
Cruelty and Deception by David P. Shugarman,Paul Rynard Pdf
The essays in this book deal with the appropriateness of "dirty hands" in politics, the widely held view that politics is a dirty business and those who engage in it can’t help but get their hands dirty—Oliver North's self-defense in the aftermath of the Iran-Contra affair is a good example. The book explores the meaning of the term and its implications; whether dirty hands is useful as a description of the way public figures actually behave in crisis and whether it is acceptable as a model for guiding ethical and efficacious conduct. Contributing authors present differing appreciations both of the extent to which there are dirty hands in political decision-making and actions, and of the justifiability of such conduct if and when it presents itself. Defenders of dirty hands make the argument (in various ways) that sometimes cruelty and/or deception are necessary means to achieve a desirable end. The desirable goal may be advancing the greater good or it may mean preventing a considerable evil. On the other hand, there are a variety of strong arguments for rejecting the practice as well as the theoretical justifications of dirty-handed activity. The book presents arguments and analyses pro and con for using normally repugnant methods to advance worthy ends. The dirty hands problem sets ethicists, political theorists, and social philosophers against one another on empirical, logical, and normative grounds, leaving it to readers to form their own views. However, the debate about dirty hands is also directly relevant to the consideration of ethical problems in a more general sense because its ultimate concern—how to act rightly when moral rules point in contradictory directions—can come to the fore in many circumstances in social life. Accordingly, several of the essays address broad moral questions beyond the dilemmas faced by political leaders.
Talking Cures and Placebo Effects by David A. Jopling Pdf
Psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis have had to defend themselves from a barrage of criticisms throughout their history. In this book David Jopling argues that the changes achieved through therapy are really just functions of placebos that rally the mind's native healing powers. It is a bold new work that delivers yet another blow to Freud and his followers.
"Fake news," wild conspiracy theories, misleading claims, doctored photos, lies peddled as facts, facts dismissed as lies—citizens of democracies increasingly inhabit a public sphere teeming with competing claims and counterclaims, with no institution or person possessing the authority to settle basic disputes in a definitive way. The problem may be novel in some of its details—including the role of today's political leaders, along with broadcast and digital media, in intensifying the epistemic anarchy—but the challenge of determining truth in a democratic world has a backstory. In this lively and illuminating book, historian Sophia Rosenfeld explores a longstanding and largely unspoken tension at the heart of democracy between the supposed wisdom of the crowd and the need for information to be vetted and evaluated by a learned elite made up of trusted experts. What we are witnessing now is the unraveling of the détente between these competing aspects of democratic culture. In four bracing chapters, Rosenfeld substantiates her claim by tracing the history of the vexed relationship between democracy and truth. She begins with an examination of the period prior to the eighteenth-century Age of Revolutions, where she uncovers the political and epistemological foundations of our democratic world. Subsequent chapters move from the Enlightenment to the rise of both populist and technocratic notions of democracy between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to the troubling trends—including the collapse of social trust—that have led to the rise of our "post-truth" public life. Rosenfeld concludes by offering suggestions for how to defend the idea of truth against the forces that would undermine it.
Is political theory political enough? Or does a tendency toward abstraction, idealization, moralism, and utopianism leave contemporary political theory out of touch with real politics as it actually takes place, and hence unable to speak meaningfully to or about our world? Realist political thought, which has enjoyed a significant revival of interest in recent years, seeks to avoid such pitfalls by remaining attentive to the distinctiveness of politics and the ways its realities ought to shape how we think and act in the political realm. Politics Recovered brings together prominent scholars to develop what it might mean to theorize politics “realistically.” Intervening in philosophical debates such as the relationship between politics and morality and the role that facts and emotions should play in the theorization of political values, the volume addresses how a realist approach aids our understanding of pressing issues such as global justice, inequality, poverty, political corruption, the value of democracy, governmental secrecy, and demands for transparency. Contributors open up fruitful dialogues with a variety of other realist approaches, such as feminist theory, democratic theory, and international relations. By exploring the nature and prospects of realist thought, Politics Recovered shows how political theory can affirm reality in order to provide meaningful and compelling answers to the fundamental questions of political life.
Fatal Self-Deception by Eugene D. Genovese,Elizabeth Fox-Genovese Pdf
Slaveholders were preoccupied with presenting slavery as a benign, paternalistic institution in which the planter took care of his family and slaves were content with their fate. In this book, Eugene D. Genovese and Elizabeth Fox-Genovese discuss how slaveholders perpetuated and rationalized this romanticized version of life on the plantation. Slaveholders' paternalism had little to do with ostensible benevolence, kindness and good cheer. It grew out of the necessity to discipline and morally justify a system of exploitation. At the same time, this book also advocates the examination of masters' relations with white plantation laborers and servants - a largely unstudied subject. Southerners drew on the work of British and European socialists to conclude that all labor, white and black, suffered de facto slavery, and they championed the South's 'Christian slavery' as the most humane and compassionate of social systems, ancient and modern.
Realism in Political Theory by Rahul Sagar,Andrew Sabl Pdf
Over the past decade, an intellectual movement known as "realism" has challenged the reigning orthodoxy in political theory and political philosophy. Realists take issue with what they see as the excessive moralism and utopianism associated with prominent philosophers like John Rawls, Ronald Dworkin, and G.A. Cohen; but what they would put in its place has not always been clear. The contributors to this volume seek to bring realism into a new phase, constructive rather than merely combative. To this end they examine three distinct kinds of realism. The first seeks to place questions of feasibility at the center of political theory and philosophy; the second seeks to reorient our interpretations of key works in the canon; the third seeks new interpretations or specifications of prominent ideologies such as liberalism, radicalism, and republicanism such that they no longer rely on abstract or systematic philosophic systems. Contributors include: David Estlund, Edward Hall, Alison McQueen, Terry Nardin, Philip Pettit, Janosch Prinz, Enzo Rossi, Andrew Sabl, Rahul Sagar, and Matt Sleat. The chapters originally published as a special issue of Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy.